Rushing Around Vilnius

I only had about 30 hours to spend in Vilnius, including precious sleep time.

As soon as I checked into my hostel (possibly the worst one yet in Europe – damp, dirty, and dark), I headed out to check out the old town. Vilnius' old town is listed in the Unesco world heritage, and rightly so. The place is absolutely beautiful!!! I mean...I admit that it's just old buildings with red/orange tiled roofs on narrow cobblestone roads, but it was one of those really nice, atmospheric places to wander around. Very clean, too.

I'm not too into castles and fortresses, but after spending a few hours in the town and chowing down a chicken cheese burger, I went over there. Only because it's perched on top of a hill that gives panoramic views of the old town. The hill isn't that high, and there's even a paved road leading up to the top – I'd say max 10 minutes to the top. BUT, they make you take the funicular!!! For a fee of course. And they walled off the top so you can't get a view...UNLESS you pay to go to the top of the tower!!! What a rip off!!! I suppose it was worth it though...the view was certainly great!
I planned to take a look at some of the quirky monuments highlighted in Lonely Planet (my bible). First one - "Egg Statue". Looked very lame, and was in a sketchy neighborhood. I decided not to look for the rest...

The next day, I rushed to the KGB Museum in the morning (it was closed the day before). Very similar to the Occupation Museum in Latvia, except this one presents Communism and the World Wars from the Lithuanian viewpoint. The exhibition and displays were a notch above the Latvians, although the texts overwhelmed me once again. The coolest part of this museum, though, is the basement. It was used as a KGB office, with interrogation, monitoring, and torturing rooms.

In the afternoon, I took the bus over to Trakai (~1 hr). For some reason, the buses don't have round trip fares, and charge more for the return leg. Anyways, I'll repeat myself by saying that I'm not into castles. But a lot of people recommended this little town with a castle by the lake. Unfortunately, the castle turned out to be over 2km walk from the bus stop, and the weather wasn't the best : ( The castle was...a castle that looked relatively new. Since I made the effort to come all the way here, I paid for admission to the castle too. Bad idea...Totally not worth it. I don't particularly care to see weapons, coins, and plates.

I got back to Vilnius in the evening, and went back to the hostel to grab my luggage. then, hopped on an overnight, long distance bus for Warsaw.
(I intended this trip to be more of an eastern Europe RAIL trip, but things didn't work out that way...the rail system is basically nonexistent in this part of the world)

I think I'm getting a bit lazy in my sightseeing. Originally, I planned to stop over at Siaulai in southern Lithuania for the Hill of Crosses, before heading into Poland. But I gave up – It sort of looked like a hassle and a day trip from Vilnius would've taken about 3 hours each way....

On a final note, almost every other person I met in here traveled through Russia, and absolutely raved about it. Why didn't I do that?!?!?! I'm frustrated at myself for not going there. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!